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A Launch of Epic Proportions

Thank you to all of you who, over the last few days, launched Epic at Henry Ford Hospital, Kingswood Hospital, Henry Ford Medical Group ambulatory surgical sites and free-standing HFMG emergency departments.

Epic launch in the Emergency Department.

Thank you to our Henry Ford Hospital staff, as well as all of the superusers and other staff members from around Henry Ford Health System.

Thank you to the Epic crew and the support teams.

I hope you feel like you are official HFH’ers.

Almost 7,000 Henry Ford employees were trained to make this happen.

The preparation was clearly noticeable.

“Go Live” Nov. 9 at 3 a.m.

In the last few days prior to the launch, our team members looked a lot like athletes who had prepared for the event and were itching to start.

“Let’s just get this going” was a frequently heard comment.

“We are ready” was another.

The sense of calmness, the degree of problem solving, and the teaming of all involved could be seen throughout the halls of Henry Ford Hospital.

Somehow our staff seemed to be uplifted.

Throughout all the commotion, I continued to see the human touch in caring for our patients. Our staff seemed even more attentive to these needs despite the information technology demands.

Teaching rounds continued, and educators educated. The support provided by security, housekeeping, food services and way finders was stellar.

This implementation will provide us with benefits in quality and efficiency that just cannot be achieved without such technology.

Project Helios Command Center.

My greatest concern was the human interface and use, but this seems unwarranted.

As one nurse said to me, “I like the system. I am not saying I love the system, but I really like the system.”

After two days, all I can say is I will take “really like” every day.

We still face some challenges in returning to full weekday volumes and testing all components of the system.